Fans of the indie cult favorite Shortbus who want to catch Tobias the Mayor, known in theatre circles as the legendary actor Alan Mandell, in what the Los Angeles Times dubbed last year as “one of the five best performances you’ll see in this lifetime,” should circle Monday, April 7 on their calendar.

That’s when tickets go on sale to the public for Mandell’s short two-week return engagement as Francis Biddle in Trying from May 15-25 at The Colony Theatre Companyin Burbank. Winner of both the 2007 Ovation and Los Angles Drama Critics Award for Lead Performance, Mandell will again tackle the cantankerous octogenarian judge with former The Cherry Orchard and Trying co-star Rebecca Mozo as Biddle’s young secretary.

Mandell recently returned from a 28-city, 400-performance national tour of the jury room drama Twelve Angry Men during which the 80-year-old actor was besieged by stage door Shortbus groupies. It was his second film for Hedwig and the Angry Inch director John Cameron Mitchell.

The famed Irish playwright Samuel Beckett was a personal friend and professional collaborator of Mandell. Beckett directed him in the now legendary European productions of Waiting for Godot and Endgame which were produced in association with the San Quentin Drama Workshop co-founded by Mandell in 1958. Clips of Mandell as Lucky and Nagg can be seen on YouTube below.

Tickets are $35-40 with performances running Thursday and Friday at 8:00 pm, Saturday 3 and 8:00 pm, and Sunday 2 and 7:00 pm. Contact The Colony Theatre Company box office at (818) 558-7000 x15 or www.colonytheatre.org.

"Endgame" by Samuel Beckett - Alan Mandell as Nagg